


Too Early In The Morning

by Talithax



Category: Mission: Impossible (Movies)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Ficlet, Fluff and Humor, M/M, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-01-22
Packaged: 2018-09-19 04:06:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9417800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talithax/pseuds/Talithax
Summary: While I don't know what the actual definition of 'fluff' is, mine goes something like this...  Angst-free, hugely pointless, and amusing!  'Tis meant to raise a smile or a laugh.  Nothing more.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Narrated by Will & Self-Beta'd.
> 
> Written at some point last year in the midst of feeling all meh and flat about writing - and dedicated to ILWB who somehow managed to foster encouragement in the midst of my... lack of enthusiasm.
> 
> Posted now, because... Perhaps we all need a little humour now more than ever?
> 
> Again. This is fluff. Nothing more and nothing less.

======================  
Too Early In The Morning  
by TalithaX  
======================

 

Startled from sleep by the instantly recognisable sound of a gun being fired, I fly instinctively into action and have my feet on the floor before I've even open my eyes. Grabbing a gun from the top drawer of the bedside table, I click the safety off and, with no thought towards either what I may be about to encounter or the fact I'm only wearing the Captain America pyjama pants Benji, for reasons known only to himself, gave me for Christmas, set off to investigate. Fairly confident that the gunshot came from the kitchen, I hurry down the stairs and, as silence reigns supreme over the house, come to a stop just outside the door before taking a deep breath and bursting, weapon at the ready, into the room.

“You're too late,” Ethan states, both calmly and through a mouthful of cereal, as he sits eating breakfast at the table. “It's dead already.”

“It?” I query dubiously as, lowering my gun, I can't help but notice the sight of Ethan's own weapon looking completely out of place next to his bowl and, for the lack of knowing what else to do, shrug. “Whatever... it... was, I'm taking that you shot it.”

“Damn right I shot it,” he retorts with a scowl. “Just... Urgh...”

“Urgh?” I echo, giving him an expectant look. “Sorry. But you're going to have to be a little clearer.”

“Rat,” Ethan mutters, pulling the sort of face usually used by small children when faced with a plate of vegetables when what they're really wanting is McDonald's. “Your damn cat brought a freakin' rat into the house,” he continues, gesturing with his spoon towards the oven. “What's more, the horrible thing was still alive, so...”

“You shot it,” I finish, pulling a face of my own as I glance over at the rat's mangled, bloodied remains. “At the risk of perhaps asking the obvious here... Uh... Why did you have to shoot it, huh? Couldn't you have just...”

“I hate rats,” Ethan interrupts, wrinkling his nose with obvious disgust as he makes a very deliberate point of avoiding looking at what's left of the rat. “Nasty, revolting, creepy, disease riddled things that they are.”

“But...” It being far too early in the morning for my mind to be up to dealing with my lover's clearly damaged psyche, I shake my head and sigh. “You grew up on a farm. I mean, shouldn't you be used to them?”

“So? You grew up in the city,” he counters with a shrug of his own as he goes back to eating his cereal, “and you hate traffic jams.”

“Everyone hates traffic jams!”

“Well, everyone in their right mind should hate rats too.”

“People keep them as pets.”

“Mentally deranged people keep them as pets,” Ethan corrects. “Just... I really, really don't like rats, okay? Moths creep Jane out, Benji's firmly convinced that if he's ever murdered in his sleep it'll be by a clown, and I know you'll walk miles out of your way to avoid crossing the path of a goose, so...”

“Let it go?” I offer as, mentally waving the white flag of defeat, I slide the safety back on the gun and decide the time has come to return to bed where, all being well, I'll be able to put all of this behind me.

“Something like that,” he replies, flashing me a relieved sigh. “Look. I'm not proud of myself, and, if you must know I'd kind of hoped you'd never find out about my... uh... rat-phobia, but...” Trailing off, he shrugs and puts his spoon down. “Let's just hope Milly's already got the hunter-gatherer thing out of her system and this is both the first and last rat we ever have to see.”

“Well, as this is a cat you're talking about here, you can certainly hope,” I mutter drily as, stifling a yawn, I gesture airily in the vicinity of the rat. “Just make sure you clean it up.”

“Me? Uh-uh. There's no way...”

“Excuse me? You shot it, so therefore you can...”

“It's your house.”

“So?”

“And it was your horrible feline that brought it in.”

“So?”

“So... I think you need to be the one to clean it up.”

“And I think... you... need to think again.” Pausing, I look Ethan in the eye and, with a smug smirk tugging on my lips, use my free hand to brush along the length of my bare torso. “Now, you see, this too is mine, and... you're never going to get to touch it again unless you take care of the Godforsaken rat!”

“Oh...”

“Yeah. Oh.”

“When you put it like that...”

“And I do. I do put it like that.”

Leaning back in his chair, Ethan flashes me a smirk of his own and settles his gaze on my chest. “You drive a hard bargain,” he murmurs, “but... You win. I'll... force myself... to clean up the repulsive rat for you.”

“Funny that,” I retort with a laugh. “Now... How about doing just that before washing, very thoroughly, I might add, your hands and joining me back in the bedroom?”

“And just like that,” Ethan replies as, a grin lighting up his face, he pushes back his chair and stands up, “my morning is looking better already.”

“Oh...” Laughing again, I stretch languidly and drop him a wink. “You have no idea...”

~ end ~


End file.
